This had taken about 9 or 10 turns (by game scale, about 6 hours and in playing time under 3 hours). The Russian was poised to assault the objective, but he faced a full strength infantry battalion emplaced in industrial buildings on the hill, as well as two very intact and capable Panther platoons. The Soviets decided further action was futile and they withdrew to regroup.]

The key to German success was its ability to operate more flexibly and effectively. Kampfgruppe Commander does this via command an control rules using activation points assigned to command stands. The rules are a good alternative for grand-tactical wargaming. They are printed by Sovereign Press, Lake Geneva, WI. The author is David Reynolds.

The Union artillery had four rifled cannon ranging from two 10# parrott and a 12# James to a 20# parrott. They also had two small smoothbore guns. The Confederates had two six pound smoothbores, a 12# howitzer and a 12# Napoleon.

The Union immediately set up it's artillery and began counter battery fire costing the defending Confederates two 6# SB. At first the Union advanced evenly across the whole line against the ridge with its left engaging the enemy first. The Union right slowed by terrain began to advance up the road to the Gap engaging the Confederates with rifle fire. A flurry of charges and countercharges developed on the CS right leaving a two Union brigades retreating in disorder. Two Union regiments were captured but several CS regiments were destroyed or routed that Southern commander could ill afford to lose.

On the Rebel Left a game of maneuver ensued with the Union trying and ultimately out flanking the Rebel position. Two Confederate regiments routed and another dissolved to negligible US loses. The Union pushed both flanks and was succeeded pushing the Rebels off the ridge. Cavalry was called up to fill in the gaps in the Confederate line. It was too little help and the Confederate commander issued orders for a withdrawal across the river in hopes of putting up another defensive line against the Union troops advancing across the ridge.

A quick look at the situation showed the folly of that order in that the overwhelming Union advantage in artillery would only delay the Union advance across the river. Union Victory, No moderator, No Pictures

The battle started of very slowly with the Americans taking six turns to com on to the battlefield. The first to arrive were the M4A3 Shermans followed closely by the M26 Pershings. A tank duel ensued between the Panzers and the American tanks. The US tanks caught the bad end of the engagement losing all five Shermans and six M26's while the Germans lost two Panthers and three PZIV's. Several smoke rounds fired by the American 105's helped cover the US tanks as they attempted to finish off the remaining panzers. One company of Armored Infantry moved around the right flank in an attempt to get behind the German tanks and supporting infantry. A platoon dismounted and fired on the Germans. The enemy return fire resulted in the loss a HMG and a squad. The Americans began to drop 60mm mortar rounds on the enemy. On the American left the M5A1 Stuarts and 3"ATG were having success against Germans knocking out two SdKfz234/4's and destroying a truck. Two Stuarts were lost from return fire by the PAK40's.

We called the game at the end of turn 8. The Germans had to turn 15 to wire the bridge and then had to withdraw its force across the bridge before blowing it up.

We have only played this rule set three times before now so we are still learning. We will have a couple more games before we begin the campaign game. No Moderator.

Moderator Pat McGarrity, Victor undecided.

Played a game of Johnny Reb, we added initial volley rules to the game in preparation for the Battle of Shiloh game coming up in a couple weeks. It was the usual roll a die and that'S where you come in at mess. Th Confederates came in on either side of the table opposite each other. The Union had two small brigades cut off from the rest of their army by the Confederate Army entering the table.
The Confederates where being pressed from several sides and were out numbered. In the end they were forced to retired from the field. The cut off Union brigades did their best to hold out but were reduced to three regiments and two batteries of artillery. Union Victory, no moderator.

The Union Centerheld Polk's First Corps back with a withering hail of artillery fire. Polk was going to advance and a timely charge by a regiment of Prentiss' Division slammed into the Corps 1st Division's right and plowed halfway down the line before losing steam. This turned the Confederate First Corps back and won the battle of the Center for the Union. On the Confederate right the advanced position of the Union camps for Prentiss' Division meant the Rebels had early success and advanced the furthest into the Union lines. A seesaw battle of charge and counter-charge waged back and forth between Cheatham's Second Division of Polk's Corps and Prentiss' 6th Division. Prentiss was pretty well beaten when an Iowa regiment charged into the 1st Division leaving a gaping hole in the Rebel line.

The larger 2nd Corps of Gen. Bragg moved both divisions forward. The First Division under BG Ruggles pushed through the woods in front of Stuart's Brigade on the far Union Left. Its 2nd Division under BG Withers made a slow approach towards Hurlbut's 4th Division. Wither's 2nd Division eventually ran into withering fire along the Union line and lost several regiments to rifle fire from the front and flank. A bulge, parts of Prentiss' and Hurlbut's Divisions, had formed in the US line around the Sunken Road. This bulge left Southern regiments open to full and partial flanking fire. This fire devastated another regiment.

As Bragg closed with the US 4th and 6th Divisions the remainder of Polk's 1st Corps was moving to push Prentiss' 6th out of the Sunken Road. The arrival on the battlefield of US Grant and the US 2nd Division under W.H.L. Wallace provided timely reinforcement of the Union Left.
It was at this point the game was called. The battle started at 6:00 a.m. and it was now 9:00 a.m., we had taken 12 turns. In real time it was 11:00 p.m. and we had gamed for nine hours. The outcome of the battle was in doubt as both sides insisted that they could still win the battle. Moderator: none, Victor: undecided.

At 0730 the engineers were given an order to pull out towards Trois Ponts. It was able to successfully pull out all of its trucks and personnel. At 0800 the armored infantry company and ATG platoon was ordered to pull out towards Malmedy. This was going to be made harder by the German PzV's that began to cross the bridge into Stavelot. As the infantry began to load into their M3 half tracks several were hit by tank gunfire. Two M3's were hit by gunfire from a platoon of Sdkfz251/9's firing 75mm guns. Returning US ATG fire wrecked one of the German half tracks.

This is the end of the opening scenario of the campaign. The American engineer company successfully pulled itself out of the Stavelot without any losses. The Armored infantry company had more difficulty getting away. Part was the reluctance of the commander to leave and the other was the order was received later than the engineers. The Germans were deploying to enter the town and several PzV's got into the town shooting up several half-tracks and panicking the half track drivers. It could have been worse though if Pieper hadn't reminded his regimental commanders of their objectives. The panzers subsequently turned around and headed west away from the fleeing American columns.

Stavelot Revisited

After leaving Stavelot Pieper left a security company behind to protect his supply line. At 1300 an American infantry battalion attacked Stavelot from the north. The battalion moved down out of the trees with two companies in a frontal assault on the north edge of the town. Visibility had fallen during the day to 500 meters. The third company began to move around the east flank of the town to assault Stavelot from the flank. Meanwhile several platoons moved east to set up defensive positions in case of German reinforcement returning from the west. these included three 3" ATG's. The two infantry companies in the center were preparing to close assault the German's holding the town.

The Battalion Commander fearing a counter attack from the west set up a defensive positions and an ATG ambush west of Stavelot. At 1500 the rumble of tanks could be heard. A company of PZIVH's was moving up the highway toward Stavelot. An unfortunate incident revealed the ATG ambush and both 3" anti tank guns were destroyed. The remaining 3" ATG opened up on the column destroying one and immobilizing another. It was at this point of the battle a flight of P-47D Thunderbolts roared in at low level. Seeing movement on the road the planes turned slightly and attacked the German column. The first two of the hated Jabo's, as the German's called the P-47, dropped their loads of 500 pound bombs destroying another tank and hitting a destroyed tank with two of the bombs. The last two Jabo's failed to hit any targets when they attacked the column. As the planes roared off the American GI's were cheering the pilots.
The remaining PZIV's, fearing further air attacks, immediately dispersed into the field next to the road.

At this point we stopped for the night. The time was the 1530 turn. We will continue next week. Moderator: Terry Callahan